The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea
By: Annette B. Weiner.
Series: Case studies in cultural anthropology
Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Published: 1988
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 184
Subjects: Ethnology -- Papua New Guinea -- Trobriand Islands; Trobriand Islands (Papua New Guinea) -- Social life and customs
Notes: Bibliography: p. 173-180.
Includes index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction -- A sacred place -- Ethnographic comparisons -- Trobriand history, geography, and language -- Trobrianders today -- The Trobrianders : past and present -- A tragic return -- Earlier times -- Expectation and disappointment -- A history of resisting change -- An extraordinary discovery -- Death and the work of mourning. Uwelasi's death -- "Owners" and "workers" -- The threat of sorcery -- "Carrying" the dead person -- Keeping the dead alive -- Fathers and matrilineality. Interrupted sleep -- Birth and ancestors -- The other matrilineage -- A father's care -- "Hard words" -- Youth and sexuality. Waiting and watching -- Adolescent sexuality -- Seduction with magic -- Choosing one lover -- Looking for a spouse -- Eating yams together -- Marriage and the politics of yams. Yam gardens -- Yams as wealth -- The first exchanges at marriage -- Yams and sexuality -- Women and the politics of yam exchanges -- Men and their yam houses -- Chiefs and hierarchy. A chief's visit -- What the ancestors brought -- The differences yams make -- Finding wives -- Power and fear -- Men working for women. Harvest competitions -- Death and women's wealth -- The need for bundles -- The regeneration of matrilineality. The women's mortuary distribution -- Fathers and daughters -- The bundle distribution -- The end of lisaladabu -- The regeneration of matrilineal identity -- Kula and the search for fame. "Argonauts" on kula voyages -- The basis of kula : ceremonial or utilitarian -- Kula in historical perspective -- Working for kula -- The circulation of a kitomu -- The meaning of kula -- Conclusion. The power in objects -- The pathos in objects -- Tradition and change -- Glossary of kiriwina words and anthropological terms -- References cited -- Films about the Trobriand Islands.